Colonizing Space, Issue 3: Fun And Games With Differential Gravity. Wait, What?
In Issue #1, we discussed why spin gravity is essential for long-term space habitation. It turns out that in order to achieve sufficient spin gravity, bigger is not just better, but mandatory. Exhibit A is the screenshot from 2001: A Space Odyssey below:
When calculating spin gravity, the bigger the space station, the fewer revolutions per minute (RPM) are required. According to this handy-dandy spin-gravity calculator, if a circular space station had a radius of 50 feet — which seems a little larger than the one in the photo above — it would have to spin at about 7.7 RPM to maintain about one gee of spin gravity.
Fun fact: do NOT trust ChatGPT or Bing AI to do such calculations. For a space station with a 50-foot radius, Bing AI said one gee of gravity required 1.9 RPM, whereas ChatGPT was absolutely sure it would take 122.29 RPM! Can you say “squished”?
But back to reality. The problem that would be faced by the astronauts in the screenshot above is differential gravity. In other words, their feet would experience a different level of gravity than their heads would:
